Instagram story viewer> @lizturow> Posts

Liz Turow

@lizturow

550

followers

1365

following

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

About last week / Jane Doe by @lizturow

68

3

11 days ago

A Brief History of Mesmerism (Part 1 / 4)

--

Before psychiatry was a thing, there was German doctor with a flair for drama who stumbled onto a profound discovery about how minds work.

It was already established that social stress contributed to hysteria, but the medical community did not yet understand how emotions could trigger physical changes in the body.

Franz Mesmer’s invention was inducing trance states—something that had been long practiced in religious settings—in his clinical patients. His method proved to successfully cure hysterical episodes. It just wasn’t due to a physical force called ‘animal magnetism,’ as he thought. It was due to the power of imagination, or what would later be called a placebo effect.

Though Mesmer was ‘debunked,’ the spotlight he put on hysteria and its ability to be ‘cured’ by placebo inspired new fields of study of the mind. Several decades later, James Braid would coin the term ‘hypnosis’ (from the Greek hypnos, “to sleep”) to describe trance induction.

--

This is a mini comic I started in @cartoonsbyhilary's class back in 2024. It inspired me to write a whole graphic nonfiction book about hysteria. Follow for more excerpts from my book-in-progress.

---

#graphicnonfiction #graphichistory #hysteria #mesmer #mesmerism #psychiatry by @lizturow

15

1

a month ago

Historically, hysteria was diagnosed in women far more than men. This is not because men didn’t suffer from the same symptoms, but because the label served a social purpose. It was a pejorative term for women who behaved in ways that were seen as problematic or threatening in the male-dominated culture.

An exception illustrates the rule. In 1682, a British physician named Thomas Sydenham wrote that patients with hysteria tended to lack “robustness,” were “sedentary and studious,” and had soft personalities. In other words, the greatest risk factor for hysteria was being effeminate.

By the mid-to-late 1700s, femininity was beginning to function as a sign of education and sophistication, and was considered desirable by European aristocrats. Being “effeminate” was no longer derogatory—the class associations had shifted.

Now that it was ‘okay’ for men to be effeminate, as if on cue, hysteria became a status symbol among men as well as women.

#graphicnonfiction #graphichistory #hysteria by @lizturow

18

0

2 months ago

At the turn of the 20th century, hysteria was really having a moment.

Since 2024, I’ve been researching and drawing a graphic nonfiction book about hysteria. Here is an excerpt. I’ll be sharing a lot more in the coming months!

(Does this format even work? Still figuring it out... send complaints and give a follow @lizzttoonz )

#hysteria #graphicnonfiction #victorianera by @lizturow

22

0

2 months ago

At the turn of the 20th century, hysteria was really having a moment.

Stay tooned @lizzttoonz

#hysteria #graphicnonfiction #victorianera by @lizturow

22

0

2 months ago

Since 2024, I’ve been researching and drawing a graphic nonfiction book about hysteria. Here is an excerpt. I’ll be sharing a lot more in the coming months!

Follow me @lizzttoonz to stay tooned.

#hysteria #graphicnonfiction #graphichistory by @lizturow

60

17

2 months ago

2/6

Excerpt from my mini comic “Portal”— musings on #momhood and #midlife.

Made in my first cartooning class, with @cmot15 at @svacontinued
#comics #cartooning by @lizturow

29

3

2 months ago

1/6

Cover for my mini comic “Portal”— musings on #momhood and #midlife.

Made in my first cartooning class, with @cmot15 at @svacontinued
#comics #cartooning by @lizturow

19

0

2 months ago

Grid worthy! Thank you @saraphonic and @eat_the_band for the lovefest 📸 @stephgbphoto 👏 what should our 🎳 team name be? taken in Gutter Bar by @lizturow

87

4

5 months ago

Life update: 42 years young today (!) but this birthday hits a little different… I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia back in early February and spent 4 weeks in the hospital (shout out to the amazing oncology-hematology at NYU Langone.) It’s still early in my treatment journey, but so far so good. I’m feeling very lucky to be surrounded by the greatest family and friends, to soak in springtime in New York, to sleep in my own bed, and to squeeze Gabe and our kids. Gonna leave some snaps of life lately here ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙 by @lizturow

188

58

7 months ago

We cute lately 🖖 taken in Greenpoint by @lizturow

86

9

2 years ago

I made this painting 8 years ago after Trump’s first win. I don’t remember if I knew what it was about before I started or if it became clear only during the making of it. But to me it’s about the danger of looking at the world only through one window. Back then it was shocking to realize that threats to our safety and security that are just outside the door or just upstairs. This time it does not come as a shock. Then, as now, the call is coming from inside the house. We can run and hide or we can get curious about it. I don’t have any wise strategy for how to exist in these times, but I do know that’s it’s time to go make some art again 🩶 by @lizturow

60

4

2 years ago